


Monster

by LilyCissa



Series: Sterek "Meet Ugly" [9]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bookloving, First Meetings, Lone wolf!Derek, M/M, Reading nerd! Derek, meet ugly, reading books
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-29
Updated: 2015-04-29
Packaged: 2018-03-26 08:15:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3843664
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilyCissa/pseuds/LilyCissa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Every morning and every evening, he crossed the park to go to work, and every single time the man was there with a book in his hands. The only exceptions were when it was rainy or worse. Stiles actually saw him devouring A Song of Ice and Fire in less than a month - the whole five books! - and all Harry Potter series in a day or two. How was that even possible?"<br/>Stiles walks past a mysterious reading man in the park, until the day when he catches him reading a not-so-good book.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Tokiosunset for the prompt ! Here it is :  
> "“You saw me reading the same book you did and we got into a heated discussion on how much it sucks”
> 
> I hope you'll like it ! 
> 
> WARNING ! There's a 'minor' Game of Thrones spoil (it's ok if you have read the first book or seen the first season.), and since the book they're talking about, Incubus Dreams, is from Anita Blake series, you might get spoiled too.

The man was reading all day long in the park. Stiles could come at any time, he still would be there, sitting on this old bench by the fountain, enjoying the nice weather and a good book. Sometimes Stiles wondered if the man had a job at all : who could afford to sit down ten hours a day, just reading? It's not like he wasn't doing anything, but to be honest, he wasn't doing much either.

Maybe Stiles wouldn't have noticed him if he wasn't so handsome. Nothing to do here with his flexible heterosexuality : you could find someone attractive and still not be actually attracted to them. Yet, Stiles wouldn't go that far. Perhaps he  _was_  attracted to him. A little.

Every morning and every evening, he crossed the park to go to work, and every single time the man was there with a book in his hands. The only exceptions were when it was rainy or worse. Stiles actually saw him devouring  _A Song of Ice and Fire_  in less than a month - the whole five books! - and all Harry Potter series in a day or two. How was that even possible? Hell, even if he hadn't an ADHD, he never could have managed to stay still and focused for such a long time.

This day was like any other. Stiles got up and out of his small flat in a rush, almost already late for his shift at the day nursery. He really liked to work with children, they reminded him that he wasn't the only one unable to stand still and remain calm. Like most of them, he was cheering and playful, and usually he and the children got along quickly. Of course, there was always the odd one out, the silent child who always played alone, but even her liked Stiles. Stiles was good at reading stories.

As he walked the old path that crossed the park, Stiles wondered if the mysterious reading man would like hearing stories. Not that he was thinking about reading  _A Song of Ice and Fire_  aloud, but maybe something like Percy Jackson? It was written with a clear and oral style, and Stiles loved the guy. A sarcastic hyperactive little shit of a demi-god that kicked ass? Perfect!

Yeah, he read the books. It took him several months, but he eventually read them. Same goes with George R.R. Martin fictional massacre, only he didn't have finished it yet. Hell, he hadn't read the part where Ned Stark dies yet!

So, what's the book today? _The_   _Hunger Games_?  _Divergent_?  _The Maze Runner_? As those books were brought to the big screen, the fanbase grew exponentially and coming from a man that enjoyed urban fantasy and science-fiction, well, why not? Or maybe  _The Hobbit_ , for the same reasons? Going to the basics before watching the extended edition of  _The Battle of Five Armies_?

"What?"

The words spilled before he could think about it. It's been two days since he last saw the reading man - that's called a week-end - and here he found him deeply plounged into Anita Blake's  _Incubus Dreams_. The beginning of the end, litteraly. Litterary too.

"What 'what'?" the man replied, mildly annoyed.

Damn, his eyes were beautiful. Stiles always looked at his hands, his black hair and his neglected beard, but those eyes, a light mix of green, blue and grey… He could drown into them.

"Huh… The book."

"What, 'the book'?"

"You're always reading, but like, good stuff. Why this?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Well, that's not the best Anita Blake book, to be honest. Is it?"

Stiles used to read the series back when he was attending high school. The adventures of Anita Blake, the vampire hunter and gifted necromancer were one of his numerous guilty pleasures. He'd got tired of it, though. What he liked about these books had faded with time, until he just dropped the series.  _Incubus Dreams_  was precisely the book where he officially gave up on Anita and her clique.

"I'm wondering how you can read it, really."

"Why? Because of the sex scenes?"

"You mean 'the bad porn scenes'? Yeah. Among other things."

"I don't know. I must have gotten used to it."

"I never had."

"Laurell K. Hamilton really changed her writing style with time, I can understand."

"Huh… Yeah. Maybe. I liked it more when it was really about supernatural murders and mysteries. Then Richard came and all went astray."

"Richard is a good character, don't you agree?"

"Hell no!" Stiles made big gestures all of a sudden. "He's stupid, and too soft when he should decide, too hard on people when he needs to calm down… This man is a wreck! And all this pack-hierarchy bullshit, like, seriously?"

"I find it annoying too."  _And pretty inaccurate._  Too bad he couldn't say that aloud.

"That's nonsense ! On one hand, she wants us to think werewolves are more beasts than humans: they can't control themselves, they're violent, they need doms and subs like they're automatically into BDSM; and on the other hand she describes a really precise and rigid hierarchy, as if werewolves were almost the bureaucratic kind of people. I just couldn't. I mean, for me, werewolves are humans that have a bigger wild side they need to accept. But they're still humans to me, they can talk and decide together. They don't have to relate on claws and teeths when it's not necessary. And I find her hierarchy really sexist and heterocentered. You may think I'm another social justice warrior but if you remind yourself that werewolves are humans after all, why the Alpha needs to be a male? And his Lupa, a female? That's nonsense."

"You seem quite passionnate about it…" The man couldn't help but smile. If only he  _knew_.

"Hey, you're only passionnate about what you love. I used to love Anita Blake, really, only before it all went 'necrophilia or bestiality?'"

"Werewolves are humans, remember?"

"Yeah, but with Hamilton's point of view, you can almost talk about bestiality, indeed."

The reading man smiled again. He didn't seem annoyed by Stiles' sudden rant. That was unexpected. Usually, when you interrupt people's reading, they're mad at you. That man seemed just amused.

"What?" Stiles asked.

"I think you got a point. And that you're late for work."

With a sudden realization, Stiles cast a glance at his watch. The man was right, he was late. Really late.

"Maybe we could talk about Anita tonight?" the man suggested. "I'm not moving today."

"Yeah! You never move anyway!"

The reading man didn't say anything, but his facial expression changed a little. Then, he smiled again.

"By the way, I'm Derek." he said.

"Stiles. And I must go."

"I know. See you later, then!"

"Yeah! Have a nice read!" Stiles shouted as he began to run.

"Or not!" Derek replied.

That young man was right: the book wasn't really good anyway.

* * *

 

When Stiles came back after his shift, Derek was still there, reading.

"So, you made progress?"

"Not really, no. I switched for another series."

Stiles frowned. "Just… how many books have you got in your bag?"

"I don't know. A dozen, maybe."

Derek made a gesture towards his bag, inviting the young man to look into it himself. When he did, Stiles was astonished to discover a ton of books, in mint state for most of them.

"You just bought them?"

"Yes. Some are second-hands, but yeah, I bought them."

Stiles wanted to ask about this man's job and money, but it was none of his business so he kept his mouth shut.

"You want one? Or two?" Derek asked.

"What?"

"I don't know, your eyes are glowing like a child's on his birthday… If you want one my book, just take it. I already read most of them anyway."

"Are you serious?"

The man wasn't smiling at all. "Of course."

"Huh… No, thank you." Stiles was taken aback by the unreal of the situation. "To be honest, I'm stuck into  _A Game of Thrones_  for like a month, and I just don't seem to make any progress…"

"Oh, you're reading it? How do you find it?"

Derek closed his book - Dan Simmons' classical  _Ilium_  - and gave Stiles all of his attention.

"It's… interesting and well-written but it's really long and slow for me. I mean, I'm not used to it so…"

"You've seen the TV show?"

"Hard not to. I know that they don't stick up to the books after season 3 or 4 but I don't mind. I really want to read it."

"Maybe you need to make breaks and read other stuff. Short stories."

"Don't worry, I read short stories often enough, it's just that they're for kids."

Derek looked puzzled.

"Oh! Of course you don't know. I work with little children, so, reading them stories is part of the job. Maybe if I read aloud it'll be better?"

"Maybe. Or it'll bring up all the little cracks in the writing, all that doesn't sound quite right. Reading aloud is hard too."

"Everybody says that I got a good voice. It's like I'm not really me… I really like it, and people too."

"You'd read aloud for me?"

Wait… what?

Stiles stood there without understanding, opening his mouth just to keep silent. Noticing he might have said something strange, Derek apologized.

"Sorry. I didn't want you to feel uneasy."

"No no that's ok… Really. It's just… It was surprising."

Both of them didn't know what to do or say. Silence fell, and Stiles went back to examining what kind of novels Derek liked.

"Did you like it?" he asked pulling out  _The Black Prism_ , the first book of  _The Lightbringer_  series by Brent Weeks.

"Yes, it's good. I found it really refreshing after classic magic stuff… It's easy reading, one day you should try it out."

"Ok, I'm writing this one down."

"Just take it with you."

It was so easy it felt wrong for Stiles.

"But… it's your book…"

"I'm giving it to you."

"I can't accept. You barely know me, you can't offer me things like this…"

"I can, and I will. It's not a wedding ring or a house. It's just a book."

Stiles disagreed. He loved books, and he loved his own even more. He lived into those books more than he read them and they became part of his life. He didn't know what Derek was thinking, but giving a book… Giving a book was giving a part of himself.

"No, you can't say that." Stiles finally replied.

"Say what?"

"'It's just a book'. It's never  _just_ a book. Even if it's bad, you have to get into it to know, to see beyond the words. You have to imagine the characters, the world… You know it, you like science-fiction and fantasy, like me. This book…" He held  _The Black Prism_  high, just before Derek's hazel eyes. "This book isn't just a book. It's another world."

Silence came back, until Derek's lips parted into a joyful smile.

"What are you high on?"

"Wha… I'm not high!" Stiles defended himself.

"Well, that was touching speech, I must say. But, you're still taking that book away with you if you want."

"Stubborn, huh?"

"Very."

Derek stood up and took back his bag, minus the novel Stiles was still holding. "I guess I'll go home now. You want to come and read some pages for me?"

Stiles's brown eyes opened wide.

"And daring."

"Always. So, are you coming?"

Without even thinking, Stiles nodded and followed.

* * *

 

Derek's home was a penthouse loft with little furniture and decoration. It almost seemed like he just moved in, though there were no cardboard boxes. In the living room, at least: only a coffee table, a sofa, and emptyness.

"You really live here?"

"Yes. Why?"

"It's just… Usually people's places are messier."

"Then I'm not a messy person."

Stiles shrugged, and took off his shoes and jacket while Derek put his bag on the couch. He went in the kitchen then, and asked if Stiles wanted something to drink or eat. They quickly choose the pizza delivery option, and went on talking about books.

"You really want me to read you a piece of  _Incubus Dreams_?" Stiles questioned.

"Yes, really. I wonder if your voice could improve the book so I can actually like it."

"My voice does not such miracles, Sir."

They laughed, but Stiles took up the challenge. He opened the book where Derek had left it, and started to read it aloud.

Oh my… It was a sex scene, well not really sexy because it was so entwined with metaphysical and magic shit Anita had to put up with her life, but it was still suggestive. Stiles tried not to sound too feverish, but he had to try and give life to the words.

" _He wanted. He wanted me. He wanted to feed the hunger of his skin. The hunger of his body not so much for orgasm but for that need to be held close and tight, that need we all have to press our nakedness against someone else's._ "

He could almost feel Derek getting tense at the other end of the couch, trying to concentrate on his coffee and forget about his voice and how it sounded.

" _I felt his loneliness, and his need, even if it was only for one night, not to be lonely, not to be exiled down in the dark, alone._ "

Without knowing why, Stiles just stopped. The book was bad, he knew it was bad, but this little part with Damian, one of his favorite character… That was too much. Stiles was really mad at Laurell K. Hamilton for creating such a good vampire and torturing him, forgetting him for so long. This was settling the score. Focusing of Damian alone. Even if it was just to stress out how weak he was and how bad he needed Anita as a master just to survive. Bullshit.

But the thing is, Stiles was beginning to picture Derek as Damian. Well, he wasn't redhaired or green-eyed, but on the inside… He was all he just described. He could almost taste the man's loneliness by looking at his flat, knowing he spent his days reading alone outside in the park. And Derek looked like he understood. He just nodded, inviting Stiles to keep going.

And he went on, reading the part where Anita felt guilty about her crappy behavior, and Stiles had to refrain from making one or two acid comments about the author's conception of consent and free-will. Not that Stiles couldn't grasp the idea of powerplay and sado-masochism, but that just wasn't. Just because Anita Blake's universe was full of magical shit she had to deal with, didn't mean everyone had to act like wild monsters on heat, as if their brains were switched off. And more important, that was not a freaking excuse to be obliged to have sex. Sex isn't wrong, but it isn't something you have to do, not if you don't want to. That was the biggest problem here, and the main reason why Stiles gave up.

The scene switched from Damian to Nathaniel, a character Stiles didn't like at first - too weak, too fragile for his own good, too unlikely as a sub… too much about a lot of things - but began to appreciate with time. Nathaniel grew to slap Anita's face sometimes, when she really needed it and that was refreshing. This scene wasn't, though. It was… Well,  _refreshing_  wasn't the word at all.

" _Nathaniel's face brushed mine, brought my attention back to him. He had knelt down so low that his face, like mine, was almost touching the floor._ "

Without Stiles noticing, Derek came closer to him. Enough to nearly act the scene the young man was reading.

" _He pressed his cheek against mine and whispered, "Please, please, please," over and over, and between each please he kissed me, a light touch of lips; please, kiss, please, kiss._ "

The young man paused to swallow. That was effective if anything else. Derek surely agreed, for he was just next to him, looking intensely at Stiles' lips.

"Please."

Stiles let go of the book when he felt Derek's lips on his cheek. He didn't move. He didn't run away. Somehow, he knew what was coming, and he couldn't think of something better.

"Please." Derek repeated.

This time, it was Stiles doing the kissing, and not on the cheeks. He took him in his arms, entangling his fingers in his black hair, pressing him against his chest. At first shy, the kiss grew with passion, got deeper as both men forgot about the world outside. They didn't realize it before now, but they craved that touch since the first time when their eyes met in the park. And now that they were touching, they only craved for more.

Maybe that book wasn't that bad, after all.


End file.
